Nitrogen dopant induced highly selective CO2 reduction over lotus-leaf shaped ZnO nanorods

Heteroatom doping offers great promise for boosting the electrocatalytic activity for the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). Herein, nitrogen-doped ZnO nanorods with a lotus-leaf shape were constructed as the active electrocatalysts, demonstrating enhanced CO2RR performance with a maximum CO faradaic efficiency of 76% at -0.7 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode, RHE) and excellent durable activity of more than 30 h. Density functional calculations reveal that doping nitrogen in ZnO induced the reduction of free-energy barrier for the key intermediate (*COOH) formation and the enhancement of electron exchange, thereby leading to a notable improvement in the CO2RR activity over these low-cost N-doped ZnO nanorods.

Automated summary

Nitrogen-doped ZnO nanorods with a lotus-leaf shape show enhanced CO2RR performance, with a maximum CO faradaic efficiency of 76% and durable activity exceeding 30 hours. Density functional calculations reveal that nitrogen doping reduces the free-energy barrier for key intermediate formation and enhances electron exchange, leading to notable improvement in CO2RR activity.